Trade body chief ‘ready to work’ with Trump

“Congratulations to President-elect @realDonaldTrump on his victory. The WTO stands ready to work with the new administration,” Roberto Azevedo, director general of the WTO said on Twitter.
   
Azevedo, a Brazilian national, said “US leadership in the global economy and the multilateral trading system remains vital.”
   
Earlier this year, Trump called the WTO “a disaster” and repeatedly blasted global trade pacts throughout his campaign, claiming they had led to American job losses.

Without referring to Trump's campaign, Azevedo said “it's clear many feel trade isn't working for them. We must address this and ensure trade delivers the widest benefit to the most people,” he added in a series of tweets.

Ready to support the administration to ensure trade is a positive element in a new strategy for development & job creation

— Roberto Azevêdo (@WTODGAZEVEDO) November 9, 2016

   
Speaking on Monday before Trump's stunning defeat of Hillary Clinton in a vote that defied the predictions of most pollsters, Azevedo said job losses had “nothing to do with trade”, but that global commerce had been cited as a scapegoat by politicians seeking to give voters “the easy answer”.
   
“A lot of this blame on trade is just finding the easy target, the easy enemy,” the WTO chief said at the Web Summit technology conference in Lisbon.
   
“Two in ten jobs lost in advanced economies today, are due to trade. Eight out of ten jobs lost are due to new technologies, higher productivity and innovation. Trade is not a monster,” he added.